Numbah 1 opened his eyes, but everything was dark. His body felt light as a feather. "Where am I? Did I do it? Did the teleporter work?" He thought, remembering his fight with Numbah Infinity and how he escaped by using a handheld teleporter. He could still remember Numbah Infinity's face before he teleported away, a look of anger and realization, mixed with the blue alien blood that was staining his black suit and dripping from his face. Numbah 1 looked down at his hands, the teleporter was gone so he must've used it.
Then he saw what looked like 1's and 0's made from a glitchy green hue. The glitching code rushed towards his face overwhelmed his senses, his body felt heavier with each passing moment. And he he found himself laying on solid ground, his body felt the normal amount of heavy now and he could see rocky rough terrain all around him. As he tried to get up and move around, he felt something else.
Pain.
A searing pain ripped through his body as he tried to get up, forcing him to lay back down. Numbah 1 tried to get up again with a slower approach, moving one limb at a time. He started with his left arm, then his right. But even while moving slowly, the pain chugging at full speed through his body slammed into him like a freight train and he collapsed down onto the ground once again. Numbah 1 clenched his fists to try and distract himself from the hurt, his breath coming out in thin, pain tinted whistles. Numbah 1's eyes scanned his surroundings again, he was laying on his stomach, at the outskirts of town. Great, the outskirts. Just what he needed. Couldn't have landed him at his front door, or in the treehouse, not even in a shady alleyway. Nope, had to be the outskirts of town, probably the last place people would think to look for him.
He wasn't content to lay on the cold, rocky terrain. He tried to move his legs, hoping he'd have more luck with those then with his arms. But pain surged through his body with every attempt he made at movement, so that idea was snuffed out real quick.
He joined the G.K.N.D about four months ago. Numbah 1 tried to think about what those been four months might've been like, but his memories cut off after the two week mark where everything went crazy. After the visor was strapped onto his head, his mind went blank and he didn't remember a thing. But Lizzie, a friend of his who turned out to be an alien, had quickly filled him in on what happened after she freed him and he regained consciousness.
She told him how Numbah Infinity had overthrown and falsely imprisoned the Supreme Leader of G.K.N.D and the rest of the G.K.N.D before replacing them with an army of robots made by Numbah 74.239. The only reason Lizzie was still around was because only she and Numbah 1 had extensive knowledge of Earth, plus Numbah Infinity and Numbah 74.239 had deemed her too weak to be a threat to their new empire.
Lizzie told Numbah 1 how Numbah Infinity mind controlled him and ordered him around as part of his brand new: "Toy Soilder" program after two weeks of earning Numbah 1's trust.
Most important of all, Lizzie told him how Numbah Infinity was returning to Earth to conquer it by wiping every single person who was aged over 13 off the face of the Earth by using a huge death laser built by Numbah 74.239 and how Numbah 1 was vital to stopping the two tyrants as they didn't know he was uncontrolled at the time. Right after those words were uttered, they landed on Earth.
Numbah 1 idea of stopping the dictators was to push Numbah Infinity off the entrance ramp of the G.K.N.D Mothership after he'd tried to shoot Numbah 1's dad with a freeze ray. All that did was make Numbah Infinity throw a fit once he'd been pulled up to safety by the robot's while Numbah 1 made a dash for his parents, only for electric pain to shoot through his body and Numbah 1 was abruptly thrown into unconsciousness again.
Now, none that mattered. Now he was alone, abandoned by the G.K.N.D in favor of pushing the evil duo's own interests.
Him, on the other hand? He was stuck on the rocky hilltop outskirts of town, wounded and in pain with no idea of how to get home or even how to get to the nearest K.N.D headquarters. At least he was home.
No. No, not home.
He didn't deserve to call this place home anymore. Especially since he played a hand, albeit an unwilling one, in nearly ruining it.
Numbah 1 tried to push himself up onto his hands and knees, but searing pain overwhelming his body and he flopped back down onto the ground. The only thing keeping him awake at this point was the waves of pain that would come and go at annoyingly inconsistent intervals.
His arms and face were a mess of criss-crossed, bloody cuts. Two long, thin, pale red, triangle shaped scars were etched into his temples, one scar for each each temple. The scars were jagged, the tips of the scars had a pattern that looked like shattered glass creeping out a few inches from the tips of the scars. There was a bloody gash on his right lower side that constantly exuded pain and Numbah 1 was also exausted, to the point he was on the verge of passing out.
"Why? I did everything they said. I followed all their rules. I tried my best to be useful...So why? Why did they abandon me? Why did they hurt me?" Nigel thought dimly, not even having the strength to cry. He felt so utterly crushed with sadness, so betrayed and hopeless, he couldn't worm his way out of this situation.
He knew he couldn't, so why even bother?
The sound of gravel crunching underfoot pulled Nigel from his thoughts. He looked up through his round sunglasses with a crack running through the left lense, to see a tall, dark, shadow walking up to him and sliently standing over him. The bright yellow orbs that made up it's eyes staring right at Numbah 1, seemingly piercing right through his soul. Numbah 1 tried to ask who the shadowy figure was, but he was only able to muster up a soft pained groan, that was the last thing he did before he passed out from exhaustion.
--Father POV--
"Oh crud..." Father hissed under his breath as he came to grips with the crumpled heap of a child laying before him. Father bent down on one knee, hesitantly reaching down and giving the boy a gentle shake. Numbah 1 was awake when Father had found him but now he was unconscious. Breathing, but unconscious.
"Nigel? Nigel, wake up!" Father hissed, his nephew stirred and mumbled incoherently for a moment or two, which told Father he still had some level of consciousness. "Medical kit, scanner, now." Father ordered, holding his hand out behind him. "Yes, Father." The Delightful Children, Father's five 'adopted' children replied in monotone unison, handing Father the medical kit and scanner he'd requested.
"Shouldn't we take him back to the ship, Father?" The Delightful Children asked, gesturing to the airship they'd used to get here that was parked about 30 feet behind them. "I'd like to take him to the airship and do this in a sterile environment, but we don't have that kind of time and I don't know the extent of his injuries." Father explained, already opening the medical kit and pulling out a roll of bandages and a clean rag.
"Go back to the ship and prepare a bed for him, I'll meet you inside once I'm finished." Father ordered. The Delightful Children silently nodded and turned around, speed walking towards the airship to prep a bed like they'd been told.
Father held out the scanner towards Numbah 1, a bright green glow in a grid pattern scanned down the kid's body before it left as quickly as it came. Father sliently absorbed the information on the screen, no spinal injuries, no broken bones, internal bleeding or serious head trauma. The gash to his lower right side and a slight concussion was all he needed to tend to at the moment. He could deal with the rest of his injuries later.
"You got off lucky, kid." Father thought to himself as he carefully lifted up the kids red turtleneck sweater. Luckily, the bloody gash Father was looking for wasn't too big. Father used the rag to gently wipe the trickling blood away from the gash, the gash wasn't that bad, the blood just made it look worse than it actually was. Numbah 1 wouldn't need stitches, just a few days of rest and recovery.
Once the injury was cleaned up, Father used his telekinesis to wrap the snow white bandages around the wound. Numbah 1 whimpered and hissed softly, squirming around slightly whenever the bandage made contact with the gash. The boy mumbled incoherently, stirring slightly but not waking up.
Once Numbah 1 was bandaged up and had been given a single small needle's worth of kid-friendly pain medication, Father reached down and picked Numbah 1 up his arms bridal style, carefully cradling the child as though he was made of glass. The boy made no attempt to resist, he didn't have the strength and wasnt lucid enough to do so anyway.
Once Numbah 1 was secured in his evil uncle's arms, Father turned on his heel and started to walk away from where Numbah 1 was once laying and towards the airship. Father remembered how, after he, Lizzie and Sector V had worked together to stop Numbah 74.239's death laser from firing on the Earth, Numbah 1 had broken completely free of the visors control and tackled Numbah Infinity to keep him from hurting Monty. Father hadn't seen Numbah 1 since. "They must've had a pretty rough fight." Father thought.
"Ughh...who's there?" Numbah 1 groaned softly, his baby blue eyes slowly opened but his gaze looked right through you. Father stopped walking, his body tensing up. How would he react to Father, his sworn enemy and most hated foe, cradling him in his arms like a baby? Even though Numbah 1 and Father were uncle and nephew, that didn't mean they had a warm and fuzzy relationship, far from it.
"I...I can explain-" Father was cut off when Numbah 1 slumped his head against Father's chest, seemingly listening to the older man's heartbeat. "It's okay, Dad. No need to explain. I'm just happy...that you're here..." Numbah 1 mumbled, letting his body relax in Father's arms."He must be loopy from the meds or exhaustion, he thinks I'm Monty." Father thought. He wasn't really sure what to do so he decided to temporarily play along with his nephews delusion. "Crud, what would Monty say in a situation like this?!" Father mentally snapped, racking his brain for something comforting to say, something fatherly and kind, even though the words "fatherly" and "kind" didn't describe Father in the slightest.
"Um, it's alright, Nigel. Dad's here now and everything's going to be just fine." Father said in the most comforting tone he could muster without overdoing it, mentally cursing himself out as soon as he was done speaking. "They hurt me...they hurt me." Numbah 1 whimpered, his voice going from feeble to saddened. "What do you mean they hurt you?" Father asked, raising an eyebrow. "The G.K.N.D...they hurt me. After Numbah Infinity's coup, he dragged me away and tied me down. He said I h-had 'outlived my usefulness' and he was going to make me b-better. But it didn't help at all, the visor hurt so much..." Numbah 1 whimpered, curling up in Father's arms like a kitten. He buried his face in Father's chest as his tiny injured hands grabbed ahold of Father's shadow suit, tears pricking at his eyes.
Father felt a wave of pity wash over him. Even though him and Numbah 1 were as different as night and day, Father knew what it felt like to feel used, to feel unwanted and unloved. "I'm...sorry that happened to you. You're a good kid, Nigel. You deserve better then them." Father said, gently patting Numbah 1's back, unsure of what to do or say next.
His awkward attempts at comfort seemed to be helping though. Numbah 1 sniffled, blinking back tears as Father started walking towards the Delightful Airship again, still gently patting Nigel on the back. "It's alright...it's not your fault..." Numbah 1 mumbled sleepily as exhaustion took ahold and the bald boy fell back asleep.
Numbah 1's eye's shot open, the first sensation he felt was that he was on cold, soild, gravelly ground, lying on his hands and knees. He stood up and scanned his surroundings, the sky was covered in a thick dark yellow smog with grey cloudless sky peeking through.
The area he was standing on was an endless flat desert, the desert was made up of sand that was black as coal. Numbah 1 walked over to what he thought was a puddle, but it turned out to be a small but endless looking hole, filled to the brim with thick black sludge that whispered: "Obey." Numbah 1 shivered and quickly backed away, the whispers filling him with heavy dread.
"Nigel." A familiar voice gently called out from behind, a voice that sounded sweet but was laced with venom underneath. Numbah 1 turned around, a few feet behind him stood Numbah Infinity, a carefree smile on his face. He was holding out his hand, in Numbah Infinity's hand sat the black and yellow visor that used to control him.
"Nigel, come with me. We can go hoverboarding and get ice cream. It'll be just like the good old days." Numbah Infinity coaxed, his smile twitching slightly with hidden impatience.
The visor itself nothing special looking, the outer part was was coal black with the inner eye part being a golden yellow. Yellow, like yellow orb eyes that burned with rage. Numbah 1 shuddered and stepped back.
Once he'd first joined the G.K.N.D, Numbah Infinity acted like the cooler older brother Numbah 1 never had. It was nice at first, a welcome distraction from the twisted situation surrounding his grandfather, uncle and adoptive cousins.
Numbah Infinity had taught Numbah 1 how to use the hoverboard, something Numbah 1 quickly excelled at. Numbah Infinity had gotten triple scoops of Rocky Road ice cream with Numbah 1 every time they'd gotten ice cream together after learning that Rocky Road was his favorite ice cream flavor. If Numbah 1 was feeling down after a mission, Numbah Infinity was the first to knock on his bedroom door with a hug and some sage-like life advice ready to go.
Those two weeks were nice, he quickly grew to trust Numbah Infinity with anything, at least until the coup and the visor came into play. Now those memories were stained with betrayal. "No. Not after everything you've done to me." Numbah 1 scowled, he turned on his heel and started walking away from the other boy. Numbah Infinity's smile twisted down into a bitter frown the second Nigel said no.
Numbah Infinity let the visor fall from his grip, it cracked down the middle and spilt in two the second it hit the ground. Nigel turned his head to see red strings that seemed to have a mind of their own floating out of the broken visor, the strings shot towards Numbah 1 with unearthly speed. They wrapped around his limbs, torso and neck, dragging him down to the ground and face planting him into the black sand, making Numbah 1 cough and splutter as he inhaled sand. The small puddle of thick black ooze quickly morphed into a raging endless sea of black tar that was still whispered: "Obey."
Numbah 1 flailed his limbs around, paddling against the heavy thick sludge that yearned to pull him down like quicksand. But the red strings, dispite their thin size, they felt like heavy chains made of iron that yanked him down and caused him to unwillingly plunge into the muck. Now being dragged deeper and deeper down, it was cold and pitch black. Nigel couldn't see a thing and it felt like burning needles were being pressed into his skin.
Now, Numbah 1 couldn't escape the whispers of obedience, they surrounded him and suffocated him.
By some miracle, he managed to fight the pull of the strings and tar. Numbah 1 managed to pull his head up above the ooze, gasping and wheezing. Nigel tumbled onto soild ground, he quickly snapped his head up and looked around, their was a pitch blackness all around him. His body pulled itself off the ground, red strings puppeting him. His body was not his own to control, his mind was blank and still.
He saw Numbah 4 in front of him, he seemed to be glowing against the pitch black backdrop. His orange sweater was torn up around the sleeves, his nose was broken and dripping blood. Numbah 4's face was covered in bruises and scrapes, his breath was ragged and his hands were raised and clenched into trembling fists as he slowly backed away from Numbah 1.
Numbah 1's head looked down, a laser gun was at his right side, his hands were stained with crimson blood. His arm reached down for the laser gun, dispite his limbs straining against the strings. Suddenly, the strings holding his left arm snapped. He reached over and grabbed his right arm by the wrist, this caused the strings on his right arm snapped and fell away.
Numbah 1's mind was filled with satisfaction, no one could control him! He was Nigel Uno, the son of the greatest K.N.D Operative of the Seventh Age of the K.N.D! And, he was one of the most accomplished Operatives of his Sector!
No one would control him. No one--
New strings flew from the darkness and wrapped around his arms, squeezing and digging into his skin. It tore him away from his bloody nosed friend and back into the black cold tar.
The strings dragged him down even faster now, they were even heavier then before. Now the whispers of obeying had turned into angry shrieks that dug their claws into his brain and held on tightly.
"OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY! OBEY!"
Numbah 1's baby blue eyes shot open again, a white tiled ceiling staring back up at him. He jolted up in bed gasping for breath, he was sweating cold bullets and hot tears were pooling in his eyes and streaming down his face. His trembling hands tightly gripped soft bedsheets. In fact, his whole body was shaking. Numbah 1 wiped tears from his eyes, the fear filled adrenaline was quickly draining from his body.
In seconds the adrenaline was replaced with drowsiness. Numbah 1 felt groggy, sluggish, and a little warm. Dispite all this, he was able to pick up on three things. 1: Before he sat up he was laying down on his back, tucked into a small but luxurious bed. 2: He wasn't in pain anymore. 3: He had little to no idea where he was.